Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, Vol. 2

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Medhimama had Medhi pinned to the wall, spitting a torrent of abuse at her.

“Did I tell you to go play games?! I didn’t, did I? I told you to make Masato yours, didn’t I? Why aren’t you doing what I said?!”

“W-well, it was a field trip, so…”

“Who cares about some stupid field trip?! You disobeyed me, and that’s the only thing that matters here! Why don’t you ever listen to me?!”

“B-because I… Masato and… They’re my friends… I wanted to be… They’re the first friends I’ve ever had, so…”

“Shut up! You don’t need friends! You need to be number one! That’s all! That’s the only thing you need! Why can’t you understand that? …Arghhh… You’ll need a real punishment for this!”

Medhimama raised her staff. This time she was finally going to hit her daughter with it. “Hey!” “Whoa, stop!” “Stop that!” Masato’s party came running down the hall to try to stop her, but…

Before they could, a gust of wind… No, a person went flying past them.

Trailing a sweet, gentle fragrance in her wake, the two Holy Swords in hands reached out and caught the staff as it fell.

“I think that’s quite enough of that,” she said, fixing Medhimama with a stern gaze.

It was Mamako.

She’d coming running with godlike speed, repelled the staff with her swords, and was speaking calmly to Medhimama, who practically frothed with rage.

“Medhimama, if I may have a word.”

“You may not! Who do you think you are?! Why do you always stick your nose in other people’s business?! You’re a plague!”

“I apologize for anything I may have done to upset you, Medhimama. But nonetheless, I will speak my mind… For any mother, it’s a delight when your child manages to be number one. I know exactly how that feels. After all, I am a mother, too.”

“Yes! Any mother would want their child to be the best! Any mother would do everything in their power to make that happen! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“But I don’t think that’s any excuse to force your children to do things they don’t want to do. There’s no reason that Medhi should have to suffer like this just for the sake of being number one.”

“There is! Medhi has to be number one! After all…!”

“If my daughter is number one, that makes me the number one mother! I need Medhi to be the best child around so that I can be the best mother!”

This declaration echoed down the hall. Not for her daughter, not for anyone else, but just for her own personal glory.

This seemed to catch even Mamako off guard, and she was left at a loss for words. Not able to think of any way to argue. Masato, Wise, and Porta were equally shocked.

But in the silence that followed, Medhi began to whisper.

“…Sigh… Enough. Enough.”

Resignation on her face, Medhi took a step toward Medhimama, raising her staff.

Abandoning all thoughts and feelings, ready to beat her mother with it.

“Whoa, Medhi! Wait!”

Masato couldn’t let that happen. He jumped in her way. Medhi didn’t care. She swung the staff anyway.

Masato stuck out his left hand, deploying his shield wall and catching it. “Unh…!” The blow was too strong, and Masato’s hand hurt quite a lot.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” Wise said, running to help. “Have you lost your mind, Medhi?!”

“I-I-I’ll get a sedative…!” Porta spluttered.

“No, I got this!” Masato said. “Just let me deal with her! I’ll talk to Medhi!”

On the surface, Medhi appeared almost frighteningly calm. But the black torrent of emotions churning beneath the surface could not be taken lightly.

“Medhi, don’t! Calm down! Think this through!”

“Out of my way. Don’t try to stop me.”

“I can’t let you do this! …Medhi, I need you to take a breath here! Please! …You know you can’t raise your hand to your mother, right?”

“So what if I do? …She’s stolen my freedom, and now she wants me to throw away my friends… And all so she can be the best mother? …Anyone who talks like that isn’t fit to be a parent!”

“Y-yeah, what she said was pretty inexcusable, but…!”

“Masato, I’ve been enduring this for years. Everything she’s ever done has only hurt me, made me suffer, made me miserable…but I believed it was all done for my benefit. I was only able to endure it all because I trusted she had my best interests at heart. But she betrayed that trust, and now I’ve had enough. She can’t be allowed to get away with this. I’ve got to make her pay for what she’s done!”

“And I get that!”

“How can you?! You don’t know what it’s like!”

“I do! Of course I do! I’ve got… I’ve had… I’ve suffered plenty under my own mother!”

Sent into a game with mom in tow. Masato had endured all manner of hardship as a result.

He had earned the right to understand. He knew better than anyone.

Masato was speaking from personal experience.

“Listen, Medhi. When things didn’t go the way I wanted, I lost it. But every time I threw a tantrum, I regretted it. I felt like I’d done something so pathetic. I hated myself for it every time! You have to get ahold of yourself. Just take a deep breath…”

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Medhi roared. His words weren’t getting through to her. “I don’t care what happens! …Conforto Staff! Unleash your power! Release all of me!”

A spell activated, and she transformed.

A magic mist spewed out of the tip of her staff, covering her body. The mist enveloping her expanded explosively, forming a massive torso, four legs, a long tail, and scales… The body of a dragon.

A dragon whose bloodshot eyes screamed with rage and pain. The explosive birth of the Medhidragon.

“SHE WILL PAY! FOR EVERYTHING!!!” the Medhidragon shrieked.

Her head reared back and burst through the ceiling. Her powerful tail thrashed, reducing the walls to rubble, heedless of the consequences.

“Argh, so much for calming down! She just got worse instead!”

How was he supposed to go up against this? Retreating from the destruction and flying rubble, Masato racked his brain for a solution.

Then, from behind him…

“Medhi! What on earth is that? You’re hideous! Is this how hideous a girl who doesn’t listen to her mother becomes? I hate it! This is disgusting! I can’t believe you would do this to me!”

Medhimama’s own anger showed no signs of subsiding, and she was pouring more fuel onto the fire.

“YOU’RE THE DISGUSTING ONE!” Medhidragon roared.

Explosions echoed in every direction.

“Geez! What is wrong with these two? You can’t talk sense into either of them!”

“Ma-kun, we’ll have to divide and conquer! Mommy will handle Medhimama, so the rest of you take care of Medhi, okay?”

“R-right! That’s what I was about to suggest! Let’s do that!”

Masato and Mamako stood back to back between monster mom and monster daughter, pushing off each other, each breaking into a run.

Mamako launched herself at Medhimama.

“Medhimama, let’s go!”

“Tch, you again! That’s it, I’m taking you on!”

Staff and swords clashed, locking together, but Mamako had momentum on her side and pushed Medhimama backward, away from Medhi.

At the same time, Masato sprang into action.

“We’re holding Medhi back! Wise! Porta! Gimme a hand!”

“Okaaay! I’m gonna beat every last ounce of sanity back into her! What else are friends for?!”

“I’ll help, too! Leave the items to me!”

“Thanks! …All right, let’s do this!”

Masato’s party ran toward Medhidragon.

The battle began with a Tacere. “Ahhh?!” Wise, naturally, had her magic sealed immediately, rendering her useless. Masato was forced to fight alone while Porta readied a Rilascio only for Wise’s magic to be immediately sealed again.

A short distance from that titanic struggle, Mamako was facing off with Medhimama.

Medhimama was ready to throw down.

“When you think about it, this is the perfect chance! The outcome of this fight will prove which of us is the better mother! …Aperto staff! Show me your power!”

Medhimama raised her staff. The dark gem embedded in it unleashed the power of full release, bathing the stone hallways in dim light. The walls, floors, and ceiling all began to move.

Released from being mere rock, the stones began swarming together, becoming golems and attacking Mamako. Charging at her, swinging powerful arms…

But…

“I’m sorry. I only want to talk to Medhimama,” Mamako said softly. “So I’ll just need you to behave, if you don’t mind. Please?”

As she spoke, Terra di Madre began to glow.

The golems all nodded. “…Huh?” Fell apart. “What? How? Why?!” And turned back into the original materials, the walls and floors re-forming. The hallway was back to normal.

Medhimama was so shocked her jaw nearly dislocated.

“Wh-whaaaaat? H-how?! What did you just do? Why are the golems I made obeying your orders?!”

“I didn’t give them any orders. I just asked them nicely… Although, the difference between the two can be so hard to find… I worried about that a lot, myself.”

“What do you mean…?”

“This was back when Ma-kun was still little… I was always fretting that everything I said to my son would be imposing my will upon him… I used to write down what I wanted to say and spend days thinking about the best way to put it.”

“What’s the point?! They should be doing what you say! Parents should raise their children as they see fit! That’s how it works, isn’t it?!”

“Well, I do think that’s part of it… But there is one mistake you must never make.”

“And what would that be?!” Medhimama shouted, ready to go for the throat.

Mamako put her swords away, facing her with a gentle smile.

Then Mamako’s body began to glow. And her body began to float just above the ground. Like a god manifesting itself in the world.

The God-Mother Mamako spake unto Medhimama thusly:

“It is the job of the parent to raise the child into an upstanding adult. We are not raising our children for our own benefit. Our words, our feelings, our entire beings must be poured into helping them grow up happy and healthy. Everything is for the child’s benefit, and the child’s benefit alone.”

The light Mamako emitted was not A Mother’s Light.

She had something she needed to say, as a mother—and when Mamako felt that from the bottom of her heart, she became a focal point for the emotions of mothers the world over, granting her the power to communicate her feelings fully in light and words.

The advanced mom skill, A Mother’s Revelations.

The motherly light Mamako gave off illuminated her surroundings. That light poured into the staff in Medhimama’s hands…and a moment later, there was a crack, and a fissure ran across the dark gem embedded in it.

Medhimama snapped out of her stupor.

“O-obviously! All mothers think… Um… But wait, I just…I spoke as if it was all for me… Wh-why would I say that…?”

“Medhimama, please calm down. You were under the influence of something sinister. Relax.”

Mamako settled to the ground in front of the flustered Medhimama, patting her shoulder. Being as nice as possible, steadying her nerves.

“There’s nothing wrong with you now,” she reassured her. “You know what really matters… No matter how harsh you were with her, your daughter trusted you and followed you. She was most precious to you, most devoted to you, and now you can place her needs first.”

“My…my daughter has always come first… Medhi… Oh, Medhi! Where is she? What happened to her?!”

You didn’t need to listen very hard to hear a shriek of pain.

“I TRUSTED H​E​E​E​E​E​E​E​E​E​E​E​R​R​R​R​R​R​R​!”

No matter how monstrous her form, no mother could ever mistake their daughter’s voice.

“Medhi! I’m coming! I have so much I need to tell you!”

Medhimama turned and ran.

Mamako stayed behind, smiling gently, watching a mother run to her daughter.

Medhidragon’s rampage showed no signs of subsiding. Her tail thrashing, her horns thrusting, she attacked everything in sight. She seemed to be particularly invested in body-slamming every wall around.

Dealing with the shock waves of all this had left Masato and Wise pretty beat-up.

“Hey, Masato. Look back that way! Mamako’s doing something pretty insane, even by her standards!”

“Can’t let myself be distracted by it! Don’t wanna know, either! However many dimensions my mother conquers, I’m better off not knowing! …Oh, she’s locked onto you!”

“…SPARA LA MAGIA PER MIRARE… MASSORBENTE!”

“Huh? Aughhhhh?!”

Medhidragon’s spell absorbed MP. All of Wise’s MP was drained away.

“Heeeey!! What the hell?!” “Stop yelling and get down!” Masato put up his shield wall, defending Wise, focusing on defense.

“This whole darkness element sure makes her drain spells effective…”

“A dark healer is super annoying! Ugh, this is seriously pissing me off! We gotta do something!”

“If you feel that way, go recover your MP! I’m running low on HP myself! Hurry!”

“I know! …Porta! Can I get an MP Potion?”

“Yes! Here!”

As a Mage, Wise needed a lot of MP. Porta ran in holding a bunch of MP Potion bottles. Wise chugged them all. “Ugh… My stomach didn’t like that…” “Here’s another! Go ahead!” “O-okay…” Porta had no idea how relentless she was being.

Masato had no time to pay this any attention. Medhidragon was attacking again.

“AH-HA-HA! NOTHING MATTERS! I DON’T CARE ANYMORE! AH-HA-HA-HA!”

“Unh!”

Masato was running out of durability to soak the onslaught. It was physically demanding work.

But emotionally, he was still ready to go. He had a lot of words left to fling at her.

“Medhi! I know all too well how that feels! So please listen to me!”

“YOU DON’T KNOW! NOBODY KNOWS HOW I FEEL!”

“Of course I do! I’ve got a mom, and she makes life miserable for me all the time! Makes me wanna cough up blood sometimes!”

“NO WAY! MAMAKO IS A GREAT MOM!”

“How?! Just having a mom along inside a game is a living nightmare! Then she’s all wearing sailor uniforms and school swimsuits and winning beauty contests… I’m constantly running into stuff I’d rather wipe from my mind entirely! I’m seriously at my wit’s end here!”

When he’d first seen his mother wearing a sailor uniform, the blow had been severe; his hands had clenched so tight, blood spurted out of them. And not just his hands—every blood vessel in his body had been ready to burst.

To a stranger, it might just be a funny story. But to Masato, it was no laughing matter.

The wounds had healed, but the emotional scars still festered inside him.

Still…

“But even so, I’m not throwing a tantrum like a little kid! That won’t resolve anything! It’ll just open all the wounds!”

“THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO? WHAT ELSE IS THERE?!”

“First, communicate! Use your words, tell her how you feel, what you want! I still haven’t managed to get it across, either, but that’s where you have to start!”

“WHY TALK WHEN SHE WON’T LISTEN?!”

“If you give up without trying, then everything just gets bottled up inside you! And this is the result! You have to change that, or… Urk?!”

Medhidragon’s tail scored a direct hit on him. Her rampage was definitely very childish. No matter what he said, nothing was getting through to her. At this rate, she was going to push him away…

But then Medhimama came running over.

“Masato, stand down!”

It seemed she wanted to face Medhidragon herself.

“No, wait! Medhi’s attacks are really strong! I’m a hero and even I’m struggling! You’re just a healer…!”

“What does that matter? …If she’s being violent, then all the more reason I should bear the brunt of it! I can’t let my child hurt someone else’s! …Yes, that’s right… I must be the one to take this! I’m her one and only mother!”

Medhidragon glared at Medhimama, howling like a mad thing.

“TOO…TOO LATE TO PRETEND LIKE YOU CARE!”

Her tail came swinging in from one side.